Future of Freddie Flintoff’s shows for BBC confirmed after shock accident leaves him ‘physically and mentally scarred’
FREDDIE Flintoff is set to be off TV until 2024 as he recovers from his Top Gear crash.
The motoring show was already halted by the BBC following last year’s accident.
But now filming is on pause for his new, as yet unnamed project for BBC2.
It was due to see vehicle owners bring in their bangers to be restored in a show similar to BBC1’s The Repair Shop.
A TV insider said last night: “It was hoped that the restoration show might have been an easy way back into making television for Freddie, who’s clearly been shaken up by the accident.
“And the fact that he could have been making it this spring meant there was a chance we could see him back on our screens by the end of the year.
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“But it’s not a good sign that the filming has been called off at such a relatively late stage, and viewers will be gutted that such a popular star has been off air for so long.”
The start date for filming of the second series of his hit BBC cricket documentary, Field of Dreams, also has a question mark hanging over it.
The BBC said in March filming on Top Gear had been stopped after Freddie, 45, who co-hosts with Paddy McGuinness and Chris Harris, had the accident at the show’s test track in Surrey in December.
In January, we revealed Freddie was stepping back from his TV work while he recovered from his injuries, which included broken ribs.
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When he was pictured in the passenger seat of a car in April he wore shades and obscured his lower face, which was damaged in the accident.
The BBC’s Chief Content Officer Charlotte Moore last month had said that there was no pressure for a quick return to Top Gear and the “priority” was “supporting Freddie through his recovery”.
